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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

An Autonomous Charedi State

Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 via Times of Israel

According to the Times of Israel the Charedi publication Hamodia
has called for establishment of their own autonomous zone in Israel. The feel that they
have been mistreated. Here is how the Times put it:

“Autonomy means independent administrative rule for internal
matters without sovereign political status, with legal and financial
independence and police, but without an army or foreign policy,”

I find this approach to be both intriguing and at the same
time very self serving. And frankly somewhat humorous. I have always thought that places like Meah Shearim
ought to be given what they want – complete independence from the State of
Israel. They don’t think that the Jewish
people have a right to their own state pre-Moshiach? That’s fine. Give them Meah Shearim and they can give it to which ever non Jews they choose to live
under. I hear that there are some Palestinians that might be interested.

But this is different. Hamodia isn’t talking about only the
rejectionist Jews of Meah Shearim. They
are talking about all Charedim – including those who have in the past worked
with the government.

And they aren’t talking about seceding from Israel. They are
talking about living there autonomously. They want to build a society of their
own. They claim to have the ability to build their own infrastructure. They
will have their own judicial system; their own political system; their own electric
companies, roads, water works… and everything else necessary for a society to
function independently. They look to Charedi cities likes Bnei Brak and Beitar as their models
for success.

Really? Hamodia thinks that a society that does not educate
their children in anything but Torah study will enable them to build a society
that functions? Where are they going to get people with
the expertise to build all of the necessary components of a modern society? The engineers, the doctors, the
dentists, the lawyers, the accountants, the urban planners, the police,
the judges and the myriad other trained people who will be qualified to do the
things that a city needs to function? From Brisk?

But let us grant that they will somehow find a way. Maybe
they will change the paradigm a bit to allow some of their students to learn
those disciplines so that they can have such a society. (Although I doubt it.)

But here is the problem. They still want army protection.
That is the advantage of having autonomy. You can then eat your cake and have
it too. They will graciously allow secular and Dati Leumi Israelis to put their
lives on the line for them.

Isn’t this what the whole debate is about in the first place?!

It does not cease to amaze me how clueless some of these
people are. How can they think that this would in any way be acceptable? How
will this new autonomous entity share the burden? Maybe they think this is all about money… that
their offer to live autonomously means that they will relieve the Israeli
taxpayer of the burden of supporting them. I don’t know… that is an enticing
concept. But if so, where will they get the money to replace what they receive now? How will this under-educated (aside from Torah knowledge) class with little marketable
skills survive?

The only way their sincerity about living autonomously can
be tested is if we require them to have their own army. That would be fair.
Without it… all this amounts to is formalizing the status quo with respect to
sharing the burden. Only they will be doing so in the form of an autonomous state. Why would the government
of Israel want to do that? In my view it
would be an act of true humanitarian nature to deny this option to them. Because
they will surely fail – even if they are granted protection by the IDF.

What about Bnei Brak or Beitar? I doubt they could exist as autonomous
states. Don’t they realize that?

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.